Everest | 2001 S Col-SE Ridge

A USA expedition to Everest in 2001 via S Col-SE Ridge, led by Brant Didden. Summit reached on 23rd May 2001. 6 members recorded.

Expedition Details

Field Value
ID 3776
Imported 2026-03-06 18:04:49.359634
Expedition ID EVER01101
Peak ID EVER
Year 2001
Season 1
Host Country 1
Route 1 S Col-SE Ridge
Route 2 -
Route 3 -
Route 4 -
Nationality USA
Leaders Brant Didden
Sponsor -
Success 1 True
Success 2 False
Success 3 False
Success 4 False
Ascent 1 397
Ascent 2 -
Ascent 3 -
Ascent 4 -
Claimed False
Disputed False
Countries Canada
Approach -
Basecamp Date 2001-04-05
Summit Date 2001-05-23
Summit Time 0830
Summit Days 48
Total Days 51
Termination Date 2001-05-26
Termination Reason 1
Termination Notes -
High Point (m) 8849
Traverse False
Ski False
Paraglide False
Camps 4
Fixed Rope (m) 0
Total Members 3
Summit Members 2
Member Deaths 0
Total Hired 4
Summit Hired 2
Hired Deaths 1
No Hired False
O2 Used True
O2 None False
O2 Climb True
O2 Descent False
O2 Sleep True
O2 Medical False
O2 Taken False
O2 Unknown False
Other Summits -
Campsites BC(05/04),C1,C2(13/04,6400m),C3(22/04,7200m),C4(22/05,7900m),Smt(23/05)
Route Notes C2 in West Cwm C3 on Lhotse face C4 at South Col at 2:00 pm. C4 late because of bad weather (wind and snow) and Babu Chiri's death. All 3 members and Nima Dorje (Boka Lama) and Pasang Narbu left C4 for top 9:15 pm 22 May. Didden turned back to C4 at balcony just before 4:00 am because oxygen system failure while others to top at 8:30 am on 23rd and down to C4 and all slept in C4. Climb finished. Pasang Narbu, 20/12/73, Makalu VDC, scaled Kangchenjunga 20/5/00. Dawa - 19 May (Re Babu Chiri's death) Crevasse 200m from Babu's camp and he fell 30m because of fresh snow covering the crevasse; found by Dawa, Benegas (OTT), and sirdar Pemba Gyalzen. Benegas into crevasse at midnight and found Babu dead; next morning started again and body brought out 9:00 am. Babu Chiri Sherpa - 35 years old, Taksindu, Solu Incredibly strong climber and obviously extremely fast. Fine person - "a gentleman." Wanted to build school in his poor village for his people. Spectacular feats: 1) fastest ascent last May in just under 17 hours. 2) 21.5 hrs on top May 99 without any artificial oxygen during entire climb and 2nd ascent later same month. This totally his own idea. 3) total 10 ascents of Everest; if successful this May, would have joined one other Sherpa (Apa) as only person to make 11 ascents. 4) 1st to make 2 complete ascents in same month (May '95). Email from Miguel Helft - 10 May 2001 On April 20th at about 2 pm, Babu walked by camp with his trademark charismatic smile. We talked a bit about the mountain. At about 4:30 according to Pemba Sherpa, Babu walked past my tent. According to Dawa Babu was behaving a bit strangely. He was going to explore the surrounding area. As u know, thats something climbers rarely have energy for... C2 is on glacial moraine next to the West of Everest. There were some moraine hills separating my camp and that of Spanish Expedition Inaqui. This season, with the almost constant snowfall, those moraine hills were partially covered in snow. It seems that Babu walked through there, as that would have give him a good view of C2 and the Khumbu Glacier. For some reason, I had a strange uneasy gut feeling all day. A black bird (crow/raven) came into my kitchen tent. You know those are incarnations of Sherpas. At around 10 pm, there were many Sherpas coming and going. I couldn't sleep and was lying awake. At 12:30 Dorji came into my tent screaming. "Willie, big problem! Babu fell into a crevasse." Frantically, I started to get dressed while our own dressed while our own Sherpas were scrambling to prepare my climbing gear. To my surprise, I only had to walk about 30 meters. There I found Lhakpa Gelu standing near a small hole in the snow. As soon as I peaked over, I realized there was a serious problem. Babu's track coming uphill, disappeared into the hole. We decided that we needed to work from above the hole, not from below. The first thing I did was to have a Sherpa send for Sandy Allen, since I wanted someone experienced above the crevasse. The crevasse was no more than a meter in width. It was dark and seemed to have a jumble of ice chunks teetering on each other side. It was a typical moraine crevasse. With Pemba and my Sherpas, we prepared the anchors. When Sandy arrived I started to go down, following the bottom of the crevasse for about 9 meters. I was pretty scared and had no idea what I would find. I soon ran into a wall of ice blocks among which I could see Babu's leg. I was terrified. Immediately I realized he had passed away. I radioed the news, and also decided it made more sense to retrieve his body during the day time. I jumared up the rope. When I got out of the crevasse, the Sherpas and I were completely overtaken with emotion. We could not believe what had happened. Babu died in a crevasse only a few steps from my camp. It was all so horrible and unbelievable. I could not sleep the rest of the night. My thought were haunted by so many things. If he had taken a different course, he would still be alive. What about my own strange fate, to have to see my friend dead inside a crevasse. At 5 am, I left the tent and saw a number of Sherpas pacing up and down the camp. I woke up Sandy and decided it was better to start the recovery before the sun hit the crevasse. We set up a strong anchor and decided that it was necessary for Pemba, our Sirdar, to come down into the crevasse with me, since there were a lot of blocks of ice to move before we could get to Babu's body. At the same time, all the other expeditions, began to wake up to the bad news. A group of Indian army climbers started to help us Sandy was in charge of things on the surface of the mountain, whle Pemba and I started to uncover Babu. I first found a boot and his camera. After about 90 minutes of hard work, we managed to secure Babu's body through one of his legs. It was terrifying, both physically and emotionally. The crevasse was no more than 80 cm wide. When we came out there were so many people. Jason of Mountain Experience, was helping Sandy. I was completely exhausted but we still had to hoist Babu's body out of the crevasse. With good teamwork that included various Sherpas and members of the Indian team, we pulled Babu's body. Having to see his face torn by the fall was yet another shock. We quickly covered his body with a sleeping bag and managed to make a litter with a piece of canvas and some ropes. There was an aura of solemn respect around the whole thing, and no photos were allowed. We rested for about an hour. We also decided to send all our clients down to base camp. Sandy and I started to help the Sherpas lower Babu. I wanted to vanish. It took us 8 hours to bring Babu back to base camp. It was extremely tough, despite the help from some 60 Sherpas. We had to cross so many crevasses of more than 6 meters. At base camp, Babu's body was put inside a mess tent. There, two lamas were sitting in meditation and prayer to help guide his soul. The entire base camp was in respectful morning, except for few idiots who wanted to make news out of the Babu's death. Throughout the night, one of the lamas, one of our cooks and Dawa sat in meditation next to Babu. I spent the morning next to him. On May 1 at 8:30 am a helicopter took Babu.
Accidents O'Bryan trouble breathing (asthema) while descending from top on 23 May; Babu Chiri's death
Achievement -
Agency Nomad Expeditions
Commercial Route True
Standard Route True
Primary Route False
Primary Member False
Primary Reference -
Primary ID -
Checksum 2458059
Year 2001
Summit Success True
O2 Summary Used
Route (lowercase) s col-se ridge

Members

6 recorded members.

Name Sex Year of Birth Citizenship Status Residence Occupation
Brant Edward Didden M 1970 USA Leader Malibu, California Alpine guide & mountain adventure company executive Details Other expeditions
Grant Douglas (Doug) MacLaren M 1968 Canada Deputy Leader Los Angeles, California Talent agent for movie writers & cameraman Details Other expeditions
Richard Paul (Rick) O'Bryan M 1954 USA Climber Santa Monica, California Athletic coach Details Other expeditions
Nima Dorje (Boka Lama) Sherpa M 1967 Nepal H-A Worker Walung, Makalu-9, Makalu-Barun - Details Other expeditions
Pasang Norbu Sherpa M 1972 Nepal H-A Worker Nurbugaon, Walung, Makalu-Barun - Details Other expeditions
Babu Chiri (Babu Tshering) Sherpa M 1965 Nepal H-A Worker Chhulemu, Taksindu, Solukhumbu Alpine guide & climber Details Other expeditions

References

3 recorded references.

Expedition ID Journal Author Title Publisher Citation Yak 94
EVER01101 HIGH - - - 231:77 (Feb 2002) -
EVER01101 AAJ Hawley, Elizabeth - - 76:411-412 (2002) -
EVER01101 - - http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12200241103/Asia-Nepal-Khumbu-Himal-Everest-the-Death-of-Babu-Chiri - - -